Red Braces
by Becca-Chan1
Summary: Misty loses something invaluable to her pride and dignity...


Disclaimer: All characters etc. copyright 4Kids, Nintendo and God knows who else. Not me. The order in which the words of the English language belong to me.  
  
Thanks to Sailor Lupus who has proof reading this. Please check out her fics in the Sailor Moon section. Please R and R people!.  
  
Red Braces  
  
By Becca-chan  
  
The sky was rapidly turning a reddish colour, pinkining by the second as the flaming orange sun sank even lower in the horizon, coming very close to touching the edge of the visible sea. The small, wispy looking clouds that had drifted lazily across the sky turned a dark shade of magenta.  
  
The sea, once a wild monster beating upon the sands of Aino Island, the tropical jewel in the centre of the Orange Islands, right near Shamouti, was calm. When it was usually was eating away at the rocky cliffs, chasing fiercely up the sands before dragging shingle back down into it's depths, was calm. Instead of wave after violent wave crashing down on the shore, it only licked gently, rippling with the gentle breeze that flowed through the warm atmosphere.  
  
Serenely the breaker lapped against the windswept shore line, white foam from the high tides further out pooling gently in the small pawprints that a Pikachu made, scampering along where land met water.  
  
"Hey Pikachu! Don't get to far ahead now!" A black haired, disgruntled looking boy called, watching his friend cavort about.  
  
The red-headed girl next to him frowned, holding up her hand over her teal eyes to shade them from the early evening sunlight.  
  
"Ash, leave her be. She'll be fine. Pikachu can swim well, remember?"  
  
Even in the distance they could hear a small, 'Pika' of ecstasy as she dived right into the sea where she was delightfully met by two wild Goldeen, just ready and waiting to play.  
  
Ash hunched low, shoving his hands to the depths of the pockets of his worn jeans.  
  
"Remind me, Misty, why are we out here again when we should be eating dinner?" He grumbled moodily at her.  
  
"'Cause when we were swimming I left my.braces out here. And you're going to help me find them." She repeated patiently, frantically scanning the deserted beach for the aforementioned items.  
  
Ash would have argued further, save that he just in time remembered the scrawny girl's skilled use of a mallet and resigned to stew quietly, thinking of witty retort.  
  
Misty turned her full attention to the task at hand, steaming along the breaker, letting the crystal water flow around her bare feet. Ash plodded along behind gloomily, wondering why yet again he'd let himself be forced into this.  
  
"And WHY do we need to find them again?" He said suddenly, the beginnings of a retort rising.  
  
"Cause.because." Misty floundered helplessly, trying to think of an answer without losing face.  
  
"Your shorts'll fall down, right Mist?" Ash returned, laughing at his own joke.  
  
His laughter was cut short by a the infamous 'Misty Mallet', leaving him with what felt like a huge bruise and a mild concussion, not at all helped by slamming into the sand five seconds later.  
  
"NOT FUNNY YOU LITTLE TWERP!" Misty yelled. "AND NO THEY WON'T!"  
  
Ash dragged himself up, and shook off the sand on his face and arms. "Then why d'ya need to find 'em?"  
  
"Just shut up and follow." Misty snapped back, searching the dunes.  
  
He did, sensing it wasn't all that particularly advisable to anger her any more.  
  
Half an hour later, they were both considerably more hungry and their search was still fruitless.  
  
"Aw come on, Misty, they'll turn up." Ash moaned at her, trying to ignore his insisting insatiable stomach. "It's no big deal."  
  
"Yes it is! I don't just leave stuff on the beach for them to be picked up God knows where by God knows who and have God knows what done to them." Misty argued, grabbing Ash by his collar.  
  
Her ranting over, Ash detached himself and mumbled, "Just get a freaking belt."  
  
Out came the mallet. "THEY WILL NOT FALL DOWN!"  
  
Why, cause you're so fat? Immediately surfaced in Ash's mind, but listening to his common sense, albeit little, managed to quell it to avoid yet more bruises.  
  
"And anyway, if your hungry, I wouldn't bother, 'cause Tracey's a slow cooker and the odds that it would be ready are the same as Brock actually scoring with Nurse Joy simultaneously getting past second base* with Officer Jenny." Misty said. She wrinkled her nose.  
  
Ash agreed. "Point taken." He was disgusted at the mental image that Misty had now supplied him with.  
  
Thus occupied, they wandered along the breaker a little more. Misty kept a constant lookout for her missing items, trying desperately to replace their function with her hand, to maintain her dignity in front of Ash.  
  
Not that he would have noticed, anyway.  
  
Eventually, Misty resigned herself to defeat. The braces were gone, and now she was faced with the awful option of begging Tracey to borrow one of his many bandannas to act as a belt till they got to the next civilised Island.  
  
Misty gave a huge sigh, and flopped down on the shore. "Why bother? We probably won't find them anyway."  
  
Ash sat down next to her. "Never mind. It's no big deal."  
  
As Misty began to scoop up the sand with the edges of her palms, moulding into a small mound, Ash studied her.  
  
She's lying, he thought. Those damn shorts will fall down unless she has something to hold them up. She's so, well, scrawny, that it would against the laws of gravity for them to stay up.  
  
At present, she was using a piece of a string as a makeshift belt. Yeah, like that'll stay.  
  
Her hair looks really dark in this light.and her eyes.blue or green, they seem to change all the time.and her pert nose looks really soft.and especially her hair.  
  
Misty caught him staring and cleared her throat ominously. Threateningly, actually, Ash thought as he started in surprise.  
  
"Something interesting, Mister Ketchum?" She asked in a tone of steel.  
  
"I, uh.I was just staring at.at.um, the rocks over there. Don't you think they look like.um, a Pikachu?" Ash gabbled, his voice an octave higher or two then normal, drawing inspiration from what he saw in the corner of his eye, Pikachu frolicking with the Goldeen.  
  
Misty turned to look, and he got a mouthful of her red hair where the side ponytail flicked into his face.  
  
While he was spluttering to get it out, Misty looked in the direction he had indicated.  
  
Seeing no rocks whatsoever, she said, suspiciously, "Unless these are amazing disappearing rocks- HEY, WERE YOU EATING MY HAIR?"  
  
Ash started to get the word 'Unintentionally!' out, but Misty jumped him instead.  
  
Out came the mallet, falling from the sky where she had him pinned to the ground-  
  
His hand shot up and he caught it, a split second before it impacted with his nose.  
  
Misty gasped. "You.you.?!"  
  
Ash grinned, a little surprised himself. "Ha HAH! Take that."  
  
He slowly trailed off as he realised what a compromising position they were in. her skin was tingling from the close proximity, and when the goosebumps erupted along his legs she could feel it.  
  
Their faces millimetres apart, both looked shocked. Ash felt his breathing increase, and when he let it out the hairs framing Misty's face quivered ever so slightly.  
  
She was blushing, but she made no move to get off.  
  
Oh damn. Now what to do? Ash thought, near to panicking. She's not bloody getting off.what the hell does she want?  
  
The word 'kiss' suddenly floated into existence in his mind.and he panicked. Oh, what to do?  
  
Please don't tell me this is one of those.'chosen by fate' moments that Brock was always going on about.oh *my* God.  
  
She was leaning in, and to his horror, he felt himself to the same. He could smell the remainders of strawberries on her lips.  
  
As tantalising as the situation was, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.  
  
Hey, hang on a moment!!! There they are!!  
  
"Hey, Mist, isn't that your braces?" He suddenly shouted, staring at something over her shoulder.  
  
He threw her off him, and ran in the direction of whatever was.  
  
Misty let out a heavy, irritated breath the shot straight up through her fringe.  
  
She rolled over in the sand onto her back, frowning, frustrated. I was so close.stupid prat, he had to go and panic.so immature.  
  
But there's always a next time.  
  
Resolving to wait until then, she kicked up from the sand and chased after him.  
  
  
  
A/N: Yes, yes I am British/English so apologies for the odd Brit language. Comes naturally. Kind of influenced by Woolacombe, the best beach in North Devon, less than five minutes away from my grandparents house ^_^! I saw this little yellow(okay, golden) and brown dog (probs a Jack Russell or similar) pattering about the breaker and it was just sooo Pikachu it was scary!  
  
Also, does anyone have a decent midi to Type:Wild? I've have searched the net and damned if I could find one.  
  
Um, also I know this is a little weird and not Pokemon related, but any Sailor Moon fans out there; Why does Mamoru call Usagi 'Usako'?!?! I'm probably just being really thick, but why?!? The answer to my queries, comments, flames, whatever to becca_chan@hotmail.com  
  
~ Becca-chan  
  
*Since I speak the British lingo, I am not entirely sure what *second base* is, but I can't take a few good guesses.if I used it in a wrong or innapropriate context, my apologies ^_^;. 


End file.
